Bending machines



Sept. l, 1959 F, vlTELLl 2,902,076

BENDING MACHINES Filed Feb. 26, 1957 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 l INVENTOR. WWFRAN/f l//TELL/ BY Boh 803 808 80h l M ((o 80i l Sept. l, 1959 F.vrrELLl 2,902,076

BENDING MACHINES Filed Feb. 26, 1957 s sheets-sheet 2 INVENTOR. F RANKV/ TEL L/ BYZZy/-Zd Sept. 1, 1959 F. vlTELLl 2,902,076

BENDING MACHINES Filed Feb. 26, 1957 s sheessheet s INVENTOR. FRANKV/TELL/ A TTORNEYS lUnited States Patent O BENDING MACHINES FrankVitelli, Redwood City, Calif.

Application February 26, 1957, Serial No. '642,596

7 Claims. (Cl. 153-20) This invention relates to improvements in bendingmachines of the type which are used for the bending ofconcrete-reinforcing bars, or rods.

The subject bending machine constitutes an improvement in many Ways overthe bending machine invented by me and forming the subject matter ofU.S. Patent No. 1,863,513, now expired. The machine hereinafterdescribed enables the attainment of all of the objects and advantagesmentioned in said patent concerning the earlier machine and in additionmakes possible the attainment of further objects and advantages whichare very important from the standpoints of efficiency and speed ofoperation.

Concrete-reinforcing bars are employed in sizes up to one inch indiameter and sixty feet in length. Bars of this size weigh about 160pounds. It is customary to provide such bars with multiple bends, withone or two bends being formed at a time. The bending of a bar into thedesired form thus calls for a plurality of operations of the bendingmachine and manual repositioning of the bar with respect to the bendingelements of the machine between successive bending operations.

Other things being equal, the desirability for commercial use of onebending machine over another is dictated by the time required tocomplete the bending of a bar into a predetermined pattern. Theoperational time required is in direct proportion to the manual laborrequired tov manipulate and reposition the bar to condition it for thesuccessive bending operations.

In the case of some bending machines, as for example, the aforementionedmachine of my invention, the manual labor required for bar manipulationis considerable and in some instances is excessive to the point where itis not profitable to employ the machine. One inherent disadvantage ofthis earlier machine is that the bar is bodily.

swung around during the formation of a bend. This not only requires thatsuicient free space be provided adjacent the machine to prevent theswinging bar fromv striking anything, but also requires that the bar belifted and reversely swung manually before it is advanced in the machinefor the next bending step. A further limitation of this earlier machineis that it is necessary to turn the bar over manually in order toposition the bar to receive a bend which is reverse in direction to thatof the preceding bend imparted to the bar. It is when the desired barbending pattern consists of bends in both directions that it becomesparticularly unprotable to competitively employ this earlier machine.

Among the principal objects and advantages of this invention are thefollowing: the provision of a bending machine in which a bar remainsparallel with the longitudinal axis of the machine at all times during abending operation; and the provision of a bending machine adapted toimpart reverse bends to a bar Without the necessity of manually turningthe bar over in the machine to position it to receive such reversebends.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will be apparent from thefollowing description taken yin conjunction with the drawings formingpart of this specification, and in which:

Figure 1 is a top plan view of a bar bending machine embodying theinvention;

Figure 2 is an enlarged view in front elevation taken along lines 2-2 ofFigure 1, i.e. with the front wall of the casing removed;

Figure 3 is a view taken along lines 3--3 of Figure 2;

Figure 4 is a top plan view of the machine having a bar positionedtherein for a bending operation;

Figure 5 is a further top plan View showing the bar after it hasreceived what may be either a partial or a full bend;

Figure 6 is an enlarged detail view in section taken along lines 6-6 ofFigure 1;

Figure 7 is a partial top plan view of the machine showing theorientation of parts of the machine and of a bar therein prior to theimparting to the end of the bar a hook, or bend;

Figure 8 is a View corresponding to that of Figure 7, but showing theposition of the machine parts and the bar near the end of thehook-bending operation;

Figure 9 is an enlarged detail view in section taken along lines 9 9 ofFigure 8; and

Figure 10 is a composite view showing by way of example a plurality ofbent bars which may be formed by the subject machine.

With immediate reference to Figures 1 3, the machine is provided with asuitable supporting frame which may be in the form of casing 10 havingtop and bottom walls 12 and 14, front and back walls 16 and 18, endWalls 20 and 22, and horizontally disposed plate member 24. Supported ontop Wall, or plate, 12 for rotative.

movement are a pair of alike brace members 26 and 28 and a bar member30. Bar member 30 is xedly secured to a gear 32 which extends through anopening formed in plate 12 and is xedly secured to a shaft 34, thelatter extending through plate member 24 and being supported forrotation by a suitably mounted journal member 36 and by a bearingsupport 38 secured to wall 14. The brace members 26 and 28, which arecomprised of foot portions 40, table portions 42 and verticallyextending Web portions 44, have the foot portions 40 thereof lixedlysecured, as by keys 46, to the upper ends of shafts 48 and 50. Theshafts 48 and 50 extend through plates 12 and 24 and are supported forrotation by bearing supports S2 and 54 secured, respectively, to walls12 and 24.

Rotative movement of like degree and direction is imparted to shafts 48and 50 by shaft 34 by means comprising alike gears 56, 58 and 60secured, respectively, to shafts 48, 34 and 50, as by keys 62, and arack 64 slidably and guidably disposed on plate 24 in mesh with gears56, 58 and 60.

Means are provided to impart rotative movement to gear 32 and shaft 34in either direction, said means comprising, for example, a reversiblemotor 66, a screw shaft 68 driven by said motor, a gear 70 in mesh withshaft 68,. a shaft 72 supported for rotation by bearing and journalsupports 74 and 76 and having xedly secured thereto the gear 70, and agear 78 secured to shaft 72 and in mesh with gear 32. Suitable controls,not `shown, are provided so that the operator of the machine may stopand start the motor 66 and control the degree and direction of rotationof brace members 26 and 28 and bar member 30.

It will be seen from the foregoing description that when shaft 34 iscaused to be rotated in either direction shafts 48 and 50 are rotated inthe same direction and to the same degree, and that thus the bracemembers 26 and 28 and the bar member 30 are at all times maintained inparallelism with each other (see Figures 4 and 5). This rotativemovement in parallel of the brace and bar members is utilized throughmeans now to be described to bend steel bars, such as those indicated bythe reference numeral 80.

The bar member 30 is formed of integral bottom and side walls 82 and 84and inwardly directed lip portions 86' defining therebetween a guideway88 for a pair of` pin blocks 90 and 91 and a. slot 92 for the extensiontherethrough of pins 94 and 95 which are integral with said blocks 90and 91. The blocks 90 and 91 are provided With internally threaded bores96 and 98 havingv opposite hand threads, and a shaft 100 having threadsections of opposite hand extends through said' block bores in threadedengagement therewith. Bar member 30 isl provided with end closure plates102 removably secured thereto. The reduced diameter ends of shaft 100extend through apertures formed in said end plates, and said shaft endsterminate in non-round end portions 104 adapted to be engaged by awrench, or the like, for the purpose of rotating the shaft and therebyadjustably moving the pin blocks 90 and 91 toward or away from themidpoint of bar member 30.

A pair of alike rod support plates 106 and 108 are jointly supported onbrace members 26 and. 28 and bar member 30. The pins 94 and 95 extendthrough apertures 110 formed in plates 106 and 108 adjacent their innerends. Said plates are adjustably connected to the ftable portions 42 ofbrace members 26 andV 28 by multidiametral pins 112 which extend throughapertures 114, formed in the plates adjacent their outer ends, andelongated slots 116 formed in said table portions 42. Plate apertures114 are counterbored so that the upper ends of pins 112 may be recessedwithin the plates 106 and 108. The pins 112 are clamped to the plates bytightening the nuts 118 which are threadably engaged with the lower endsof the pins. When the nuts are so tightened, brace members 26 and 28 andthe pins 112 may be freely rotatively moved relative to plates 106 and108.

The plates 106 and 108 are each further provided with apertures 120,122, 124 and 126,r all of the same di'ametral size. Apertures 122 and124 are disposed equidistantly from the longitudinal axes of plates 106and 108 and from the axes of pins 94 and 95. Apertures 120 and 126 arelikewise disposed equidistantly from the longitudinal axes ofk plates106 and 108 and from the axes of pins 94 and 95. The apertures 120, 122,124 and 126' in each plate have their axes disposed on the arc of animaginary circle, the center of which is located along the longirtudinalaxis of the plate. Secondary rod bending pins 128 and 130 areselectively and removably inserted within one of the four apertures120-126 of the plates 106 and 108 in accordance with the diameter of therod being worked, with the direction of bend to be given the rod, andwith the radii desired for the ends of the bend. The bending pins 94,95, 128 and 130 may be provided with removable sleeves 132 for furthercontrol of the radii of the ends of a bend.

Figures 4 and 5 illustrate the imparting of a bend to a rod, or bar, 80.In comparison with Figure l, it will be seen that the bar element 30 andbrace members 26 and 28 have been rotated slightly in a clockwisedirection to reach the positions they occupy in Figure 4. Suchprepositioning movement of these elements is called for in order toenable the straight rod 80 to be placed on the plates 106 and 108 sothat the pins 94 and 130 are disposed on one side of the rod and thepins 95 and 128 on the other side. With the rod so positioned in themachine, the previously described shaft and gear train is actuated torotate bar member 30 and brace members 26 and 28 in a counter-clockwisedirection, as indicated in Figure 5, to impart the bend 80a to rod 80.In Figure 5, the angle of the bend 80a with respect to the rod is about30, but it will be appreciated that the angle of the bend may be made toapproach 180 if desired.

When the desired angle of a bend has been reached, the machine isstopped. Parts 26, 28 and 30 are reversely -rotated to the slight degreenecessary to free the rod. The rod is lifted. The parts 26, 28 and 30are moved into position for the next bending step, and the rod is thenadvanced and lowered into place in the machine. If the next bend is tobe identical with that previously made, the parts will be returned totheir Figure 4 position and the bend length-controlling distance betweenthe primary bending pins 94 and 95 will be maintained the same. If adifferent length of bend is desired, the pins 94 and 95 are accordinglymoved either toward or away from each other by rotation of screw shaftafter the nuts 118 have been loosened to allow pins 112 to slide withinthe slotsy 116. Following the desired adjustment of pins 94 and 95, thenuts 118 are again tightened. If the subsequent bend is to be a reverseone, i.e. made by rotating the parts 26, 28 and 30 in a clockwisedirection, the pins 128 and 130 are inserted, respectively, in plateapertures and 126 (or 122 and 124, as the case may be) andthe parts 26,28 and 30 are. rotated slightly in a counter-clockwise direction so thatthe bar may be positioned between the sets of bending pins, with pins`94 and 130 being below the rod and pins 95 and 128. being above the rod(with reference to Figures l, 4 and 5)..

During operation of the machine, the longitudinal axes of plates 106 and108 remain parallel with the longitudinal axis of the machine. Hence,the rod is not rotatively swung relative to the machine during thebending operation, but is instead deformed by a force couple into offsetparallel body portions (which in turn are parallel with the axis of themachine) interconnected by bent portions, such as 80a. The manual laborrequired to manipulate thev rod between bending. steps to position itfor the ensuing bending step is thereby reduced to a minimum. Y

Figure l0 shows, by way of example, a number of shapes of bent barswhich may be readily produced by this machine. The bends 80h of thetopmost rod are greater than 90 and they are unidirectional, i.e. madeby successively rotating the. bending elements in the same direction ofrotation. The bends 80C of the next rod shown are 90 and areuni-directional., The bends4 80d and 80e of lthe next rod are 90 but arebi-directional, i.e. made by successively rotating the bending elementsin opposite directions. The bends 80jc of the following rod are likewiseuni-directional. BendsV 80g of the next rod are bidirectional, and therod is. further provided with semihook end bends 80h. The last` shownrod is provided with full hook end bends 801'.

Hook bends, such as 80h and 801' may be imparted to rods by means whichmay be readily installed in the machine for that purpose and thereafterremoved. Such means comprise an auxiliary pin 134 carried by a pin block136, the latter being complemental in cross-sectional shape with thechannel 88 defined in bar member 30 and being downwardly insertable intosaid channel through an opening defined by cutaways 138 formed in lipportions 86 ofrnember 30. Pin block 136 is bifurcated to adapt it tostraddle screw shaft and to be slidably positioned within member 30adjacent one of theV primary bending pins 94 and 95. Whenthe block 136has been positioned as desired within bar member 30, it is secured inthis position by means such as set screw 140 (Figure 9).

Figures 7 and 8 illustrate how a hook bend, such as 801, may be impartedto a rod end Figure 7 shows the rod prepositioned with respect tobending pins 95, 130 and 134. When parts 30 and 28 are rotated in acounterclockwise direction (as indicated in Figure 8) for 180, a hookbend is imparted tothe end of the rod. It will be appreciated that themachine would normally be provided with two such auxiliary pins 134, theother being positioned adjacent the other primary bending pin 94, sothat the trailing end of one bar and the leading end of a following barmay be simultaneously provided with such hook bends.

Having thus described an embodiment of myl invention,

what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. A rod bending machine comprising a housing having an upper walladapted to serve as a support member, an elongated bar member and a pairof elongated brace members disposed above said wall in spaced andalignable relation with each other, said bar member being disposedbetween said brace members, shaft means, supported within said housingand extending through said wall, mounting said brace members and saidbar member for rotation about self-contained axes of rotation, said axesbeing in mutual alignment with each other, drive means mutuallyinterconnecting said shaft means operable to move said brace members andsaid bar member in the same direction of rotation and with the samedegree of rotation, whereby said brace members and bar member aremaintained in parallel relation with each other, a pair of upwardlydirected primary rod bending pins adjustably carried by said bar member-for movement toward and away from each other, a pair of plate memberssupported by said brace members and bar member, each of said platemembers having a pivotal connection with one of said bending pins andhaving a pivotal and slidable connection with one of said brace members,and a secondary rod bending pin carried by each of said plate membersintermediate the points of connection of said plate members with saidbrace members and with said primary bending pins.

2. A rod bending machine according to claim l, including means forselectively positioning said secondary bending pins on said platemembers.

3. A rod bending machine comprising rst, second and third verticallydisposed, parallel, aligned and horizontally spaced apart shafts, meanssupporting the same for rotation, reversible drive means connected tosaid shafts including means for rotating said shafts jointly in the samedirection and to the same degree, rst, second and third elongated levermembers disposed in parallel with each other and having a fixedconnection with, respectively, said iirst, second and third shafts andextending transversely thereto, said shafts being spaced apartequidistantly, with said second shaft being located between said firstand third shafts, said second lever member being connected at itsmidpoint with said second shaft, said first and third lever members,when all of said lever members are in longitudinal alignment, having theends thereof which are disposed toward said second lever memberconnected to their respective shafts, a first link memberinterconnecting said first and second lever members, said link memberhaving a iirst pivotal connection with said rst lever member and asecond pivotal connection with said second lever member, the distancebetween said rst pivotal connection and said first shaft being equal tothe distance between said second pivotal connection and said secondshaft, a second link member similar to said first link memberinterconnecting said second and third lever members, said link memberhaving a irst pivotal connection with said second lever member and asecond pivotal connection with said third lever member, the distancebetween said last mentioned iirst pivotal connection and said secondshaft being equal to the distance between said last mentioned secondpivotal connection and said third shaft, and at least a pair ofvertically disposed rod bending pins extending upwardly from each ofsaid link members, the pins of each pair being spaced apart bothlengthwise and crosswise of a link member.

4. A rod bending machine according to claim 3, including means foradjustably positioning the pivotal connections between said link membersand said lever meinbers towards and away from the shafts connected tosaid lever members.

5. A rod bending machine according to claim 4, including means forvarying the distances, both lengthwise and crosswise of the linkmembers, between the pins of each pair.

6. A rod bending machine comprising an elongated and horizontallydisposed carrier member, means supporting said carrier member forrotation about a vertically disposed axis of rotation, a pair ofvertically disposed rod engaging pins carried by said carrier member,one of said pins being disposed at each side of said axis of rotation,whereby a straight rod to be bent may be disposed at an angle acrosssaid carrier member and have its opposite sides engaged by said pins,the distance between said pins defining the length of the bend to beimparted to said rod, a pair of rod engaging reaction members, each ofsaid reaction members being positionally associated with one of saidpins but located at the other side of said rod with respect to said pinand in spaced relation thereto along said rod and away `from the lengththereof be be bent, drive means connected to lthe support means for saidcarrier member whereby said carrier member may be selectively rotated ineither direction, and support and drive means `for said reaction membersoperable simultaneously with the drive means for said carrier member tomove each reaction member in a curvilinear path while preventing anyrelative movement |between each reaction member and the pin positionallyassociated therewith.

7. A rod bending machine comprising support means rotatable about anaxis of rotation, a pair of spaced apart primary bending pins havingtheir longitudinal axes 4disposed in parallel with each other and inparallel with the axis of rotation of said support means, said pinsbeing carried by said support means and each beingadapted to travel acircular path upon rotation of said support means, a pair of secondarybending pins and movable support means therefor disposing said pins inspaced parallel relation with each other and with said primary bendingpins, said secondary bending pins being each disposed adjacent one ofsaid primary bending pins at a greater distance from said axis ofrotation than said primary bending pin, said secondary bending pinsbeing disposed at opposite sides of an imaginary plane in which thelongitudinal axes of said primary bending pins are disposed, rst meansfor rotating the support means for said primary pins about said axis ofrotation, and second means operable in timed relation to the operationof said iirst means to move said support means for said secondary pins,and means constraining said latter mentioned support means to movecurvilinearly while preventing relative movement between each primarypin and the secondary pin adjacently disposed thereto.

References Cited in the tile of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS1,695,836 Witmer Dec. 18, 1928 2,055,955 Wagenbach Sept. 29, 19362,477,020 Van Sant July 26, 1949 2,645,252 Norman July 14, 19532,661,786 Peddinghaus et al. Dec. 8, 1953 FOREIGN PATENTS 696,006 FranceOct. 7, 1930 891,175 Germany Sept. 24, 1953

